christmas

would be taking a break for a while. going south away from the cold :)

see you all in the new year. merry x'mas.

christmas eve

“The loneliness of the night concealed the grief
of the loneliness of a man on this Christmas Eve.

He thought he could hear carols being sung;
But when he looked up, he could felt his heart sunk.
Self delusion has again mocked his sanity,
as there is on one within hundred yards vicinity.”

"santa missed out on me this year again. the reindeers must have gone on strike with the french transport workers. damn."

forethought

Thanksgiving night is going to be so lonely this year..

ski 4

clowning around.

"charlie's angels or jpop"

ski 3

View from the top of the Belle Plagne (French Eastern Alps). i din want to leave the mountain even though it was minus 14 degreeC. click to enlarge.

"I'm a drawf basking in the beauty of snow white." -cj

"captured by her spell binding awe."

let me be your eyes when i travel. i'll walk and you will enjoy the sights too.

ski 2

Usually, when trying to recounter an experience, I would think that my descriptive words coupled with your creative imagination would suffice. Nowadays, work simply overwhelm me; thus explaining my recently inability to churn out coherent sentences. So, here's a picture story.

"cool morning. im so excited i woke up even before the sun rises." - cj

"inventory. every skier would need a appropriate kit." - cj

"pink ski, but not for me."-cj

"clean start to a day. nothing's broken yet."-cj

"the way down"-cj

"choose" - cj

"snow white" - cj

"top of the world"-cj

Xtreme sport. a thrill seeker's heaven.

thrills

thanks weilun, it came just in time for x'mas! =)
si shen tang?

ski 1

We embarked on our 9hr bus journey at 12 midnight. The unrelenting chilliness of dark night coupled with the gruelingly long bus ride did little to dampen our spirits. When we arrived at the Belle Plagne, it was a breathtaking moment. The snow capped mountains with a clear blue sky as a backdrop, the pristine white landscapes dotted with skiers gliding down them and the sunrise over the mountain ridge. We were totally mesmerized. We held our breath as we took in each picturesque view in awe; hoping to etch them permanently in our minds. The high altitude made us cut short our breathtaking experience as we took in deep breaths to acclimatise to the lower air density.

"shades of blue" - cj

"welcome to belle plagne" - cj

Excited as rabbits we headed for our main objective. To ski.

ski

yes, even after countless death-defying over the head tumbles. i made it back without any broken bones.
i have learnt how to ski and how to fall with grace. =)

midnight rendevous

"They bundled all fifty of us into two unmarked minibus in the dead of the night. Temperature has dropped to below zero. The cold made the night seems darker than it usually is. Nothing stirred, the silent whispers were immediately hushed. A small backpack was all we were allowed to bring along with us. Cold and tired, we boarded the bus obediently; the bus is expected to arrive at its destination before dawn the next day. We were unsure of what to expect. The anticipation kept us awake thoughout the journey, as we huddled closer to each other for warmth and comfort. We prepare ourselves for whatever awaits us.."

"feeling blue at night" - cj

We embark on our weekend ski trip tonight. back on monday.

winter

when the infallible meets the inevitable...

"he thought he was infallible. " - cj

Inevitably, winter is here. the inevitable wins.

autumn leaves

"autumn leaves" - cj

autumn leaves. winter arrives. changing seasons.

worry

"Many people told me that my ego is a problem. I totally agreed with them. It's a problem but it is not my problem; they would have to find a way to cope with it. " - cj

otc, this will be what's gonna happen if I stop worrying about anything.

motivation

I want to show people who disappoint me that I'm going to lead a better life than them. So I work myself harder to show them that they were wrong about me. If I eventually succeed, I would be filled with a sense of pride and satisfaction which I'm not sure whether is derived from the fruits of the labour or from the fact tt I have proven a point. I wonder if this is actually a healthy source of motivation or a self destructive vengeful mentality. I need a moral beacon.

"ominous clouds" - cj

i watched my lucid mind being clouded..

Calvin and Hobbes (2)

Well , if I am ever a tiger, I would probably turn out looking something like this. lanky and a little fuzzy. But I dun think that I would mind a bit.
"How I wish I have a tiger like Hobbes... Mayb I could be someone else's tiger. =) "

aa, those are verbatim of your words, right? Granted, I think that you do have Hobbes' patient dignity and his common sense. Good-natured, intelligent, friendly, and enthusiastic in a sneaking-up-and-pouncing sort of way. You do fit into that profile you know. Good thing you have me here to show you the consequences of your words. aa, have you ever wonder how you will look like if you are a tiger?

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"Grr..my little tiger"

aamanda, sometimes words fail me. but picture seldoms does. lol.

calvin and hobbes(1)

I'm a great fan of this comic strips. So when u draw parallel between me and Calvin, I didn't take that as a compliment. So in good humor, I feel that I have to live up to his name. After all, ...

Calvin
Calvin is named for a sixteenth-century theologian who believed in predestination. Most people assume that Calvin is based on a son of mine, or based on detailed memories of my own childhood. In fact, I don't have children, and I was a fairly quiet, obedient kid -- almost Calvin's opposite. One of the reasons that Calvin's character is fun to write is that I often don't agree with him. . . .

Many of Calvin's struggles are metaphors for my own. I suspect that most of us get old without growing up, and that inside every adult (sometimes not very far inside) is a bratty kid who wants everything his own way. I use Calvin as an outlet for my immaturity, as a way to keep myself curious about the natural world, as a way to ridicule my own obsessions, and as a way to comment on human nature. I wouldn't want Calvin in my house, but on paper, he helps me sort through my life and understand it.

Hobbes
Named after a seventeenth-century philosopher with a dim view of human nature, Hobbes has the patient dignity and common sense of most animals I've met. Hobbes was very much inspired by one of our cats, a gray tabby named Sprite. Sprite not only provided the long body and facial characteristics for Hobbes, she also was the model for his personality. She was good-natured, intelligent, friendly, and enthusiastic in a sneaking-up-and-pouncing sort of way. Sprite suggested the idea of Hobbes greeting Calvin at the door in midair at high velocity.

The so-called "gimmick" of my strip -- the two versions of Hobbes -- is sometimes misunderstood. I don't think of Hobbes as a doll that miraculously comes to life when Calvin's around. Neither do I think of Hobbes as the product of Calvin's imagination. . . . Calvin sees Hobbes one way, and everyone else sees Hobbes another way. I show two versions of reality, and each makes complete sense to the participant who sees it. I think that's how life works. None of us sees the world exactly the same way, and I just draw that literally in the strip.

Calvin's Parents
I've never given Calvin's parents names, because as far as the strip is concerned, they are important only as Calvin's mom and dad. Calvin's dad has been rumored to be a self-portrait. All my characters are half me, so it's true in some ways, but Calvin's dad is also partly a satire of my own father. Any strip about how suffering "builds character" is usually a verbatim transcript of my dad's explanations for why we were all freezing, exhausted, hungry and lost on camping trips. These things are a lot funnier after 25 years have passed.

Calvin's mom is the daily disciplinarian, a job that taxes her sanity, so I don't think we get to see her at her best. I regret that the strip mostly shows her impatient side, but I try to hint at other aspects of her personality and her interests by what she's doing when Calvin barges in. . . .

. . . As secondary characters, I've tried to keep Calvin's parents realistic, with a reasonable sense of humor about having a kid like Calvin. I think they do a better job than I would.

Susie Derkins
Susie is earnest, serious and smart. . . . I suspect that Calvin has a mild crush on her that he expresses by trying to annoy her, but Susie is a bit unnerved and put off by Calvin's weirdness. This encourages Calvin to be even weirder, so it's a good dynamic. Neither of them quite understands what's going on, which is probably true of most relationships.


Miss Wormwood
As a few readers guessed, Miss Wormwood is named after the apprentice devil in C.S. Lewis' "The Screwtape Letters." I have a lot of sympathy for Miss Wormwood. We see hints that she's waiting to retire, that she smokes too much, and that she takes a lot of medication. I think she seriously believes in the value of education, so needless to say, she's an unhappy person.

Rosalyn
Probably the only person Calvin fears is his baby-sitter. I put her in a Sunday strip early on, never thinking of her as a regular character, but her intimidation of Calvin surprised me, so she's made a few appearances since. Rosalyn even seems to daunt Calvin's parents, using their desperation to get out of the house to demand advances and raises. Rosalyn's relationship with Calvin is pretty one-dimensional, so baby-sitter stories get harder and harder to write, but for a later addition to the strip, she's worked pretty well.

Moe
Moe is every jerk I've ever known. He's big, dumb, ugly and cruel. I remember school being full of idiots like Moe. I think they spawn on damp locker room floors.

aa, this is a prelude to what is about to come. watch for the next post...
be afraid.

can't

smile. I spend the whole day living the dreams of many people. Spent a day in Paris, dropped by souvenirs shops, basked in the Christmas spirits, caught a movie, enjoyed the majestic night view of Notre Dame de Paris and took a walk along the romantic river La Seine. I didn't smile much throughout, instead I spend most of the time feeling uninterested. Something is missing. Me. I'm lost.

"problems? sleep on it." -cj

self pity is not an option, it is an excuse.

results

The first sequence's results were released. Good news is : there is no bad news.

no bombshells, but no champagne either.

again

No matter how many times you emphasize the fact that Singapore is not in China. People will still not be convinced. After the hundredth attempt at clarification, my french tutor still turns to ask me, "What do you think about the One-Child Policy in your country?"

mdm, my parents have 3 children.

rhetoric

I can't say that I'm in a state of utter despondency but it has been a while since I felt really happy. I won't blame the company that I'm keeping, cos really they are a good bunch. Neither would I blame myself, cos I know I'm far from being an antisocial nut case. Nonetheless, I would really appreciate that people do not try to impose their values on me. Being constantly bombarded with heavily nuanced questions that question my lifestyle, I have a feeling that I would soon stand on the side of anti establishment. Why do you sleep at 11pm and wake up at 6am? Why do you work so hard? I believe that all if you would have easily found the answers to the above two questions. Even though I have an answer to these questions too, I would usually choose not to reply them. Rhetorical questions, I feel, are not meant to be answered. It makes me wonder why do people not do things that are good for them? However, I usually stop short of trying to rationalize with them, as more often than not, things will turn awkward. I figured it would be wiser to not spoil the mood then. Thus, I would just forced out a smile, one that is already near perfection due to constant practice, and a pacifying nod of acknowledgment.

One of the most classic of such questions came when I was packing my groceries into the plastics bags at a supermarket counter one day. I advised my friend to pack more stuffs into each plastic bags as he was indiscriminately pulling out the plastic bags from its holder. Then, came the rhetoric ,"You are not even paying for it. Why save?"

A rhetorical question can always be responded with another rhetorical question. Tired and hungry, I decided to let that statement pass. but...

why waste?

the finishing line

Some of you have probably read this. this goes out to my friends who are running the race this sunday, I really wished that I could be there running along side you. All the best !

"Morning!" said the stranger.
I turned my head
half filled with anger,
only to see my sweet darling angel.

"Wake up darling its 6am.."
she bleated like an endearing lamb.
"but angel its 6km.."
I protested like an unyielding ram.

Held and protected by the comfort of my bed,
I found more reasons to silence the voice in my head.
Looking out of my window to further confirmation,
I saw in the dark sky- the zodiac constellations.

“Nothing’s working.
In such an early morning.
My body’s unwilling.
My mind’s not encouraging”

She held in her hands a pair of socks,
Dangling it in front of me as she mocked,
"Walk the walk,
And not just talk the talk."

Casting her words aside,
the bouts of sleepiness came in tides.
I drifted back into the land of dreams,
Where everything’s peaceful, so it seems.

In Wonderland, whilst talking to Alice,
I heard a voice filled with mirthful malice.
Immediately, I sense a great danger,
As turned to face my anger-ridden angel.

“Get out of bed,
Or I’ll have you roasted
Like burnt bread,
I’ll make sure you are fully toasted”

The threat struck me where it hurts the most,
“NO, I do not want to be a bread toast!”
I jumped out of bed full of fear,
And quickly changed into my running gear.

"Morning again! Its only 6km…"
Once again, she bleated like an endearing lamb….

regards,
junyong